Tagged japanese cinema

In 1995, commuters in Tokyo were deliberately exposed to a deadly gas called sarin in an act of domestic terrorism. Twelve people were killed and over a thousand injured. Me and the Cult Leader: A Modern...

Originally reviewed as part of our Cannes Film Festival coverage in May 2019. Opening the late night screening of First Love – shown as part of the Directors’ Fortnight strand at Cannes – veteran...

When a film opens with its lead announcing in voiceover that the summer will never end, the beast of cliche rears its deadly horns. Sho Miyake’s decision to have wayward slacker Boku (Tasuku Emoto) declare...

This film was previously reviewed on 15/05/2018 as part of the Cannes Film Festival. Hirokazu Kore-eda is on familiar ground with Shoplifters, the story of an unconventional family unit on the fringes of...

With Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda tackles his most complex family unit to date: an impoverished, patchwork household who are biologically unrelated. Only occasionally featuring shoplifting, the film's title...

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Asako I & II is an endearing Japanese rom-com with a high-concept premise. Asako (Erika Karata) falls in love with Baku (Masashiro Higashide) at university, but he walks out of her...

Hirokazu Kore-eda is on familiar ground with Shoplifters, the story of an unconventional family unit on the fringes of society who beg, steal and borrow to get by. It’s the most fun Kore-eda has been in...

Although Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda has been working for decades, and although his films have been celebrated across the festival circuit, he is not yet a household name. That kind of international...

40 years ago, In the Realm of the Senses was released, sparking uproar and an obscenity trial. The film's notoriety stems from its explicit, unsimulated sex scenes, yet director Nagisa Ôshima was not...

Despite being a Cannes favourite, Naomi Kawase is a marginal director both domestically and internationally. Sweet Bean shows why this needs to change. Her talent is most evident when the elderly Tokue (Kirin...

Frequently cited as his last great film, Akira Kurosawa's Ran shows the director at the height of his powers. The film, released in 1985, was a decade-long passion project for the septuagenarian director. Much...

With a backdrop of violence and gangs, the friendship that writer and director Ken Ninomaya creates is one of hope and honesty. Punctuated perfectly by rock music throughout, and with violence that never errs...